UGA student found dead in dorm

University officials suspect alcohol played a factor in the death of a 19-year-old University of Georgia student who was found dead Sunday morning in his dorm room at Russell Hall.

Lewis Rockwell Fish, a first-year student from Atlanta, was pronounced dead at around 10:30 a.m. Sunday. At around 8:30 a.m. Sunday, a friend staying with Fish in his dorm room called UGA police and paramedics to report that Fish was having a medical problem. Emergency medical personnel arrived at the dorm at 8:36 a.m. and found him dead, said Athens-Clarke County Coroner Bobby Tribble.

Police believe Fish's death was alcohol related based on interviews with the friend who first called for help, Tribble said. However, Tribble added he is waiting for the results of Fish's autopsy and a toxicology report before he will declare a cause of death. The results of the toxicology report will not be available for six to eight weeks, said UGA Police Chief Jimmy Williamson.

If Fish's death is alcohol related, it will be the first alcohol-related death on UGA's campus in several years, Williamson said.

A neighbor of Fish's in Russell Hall who refused to identify himself said Fish had joined a fraternity at UGA, but school officials would not confirm that during a press conference held Sunday afternoon.

Vice President for Student Affairs and Dean of Students Rodney Bennett said the school has no intentions of banning alcohol on campus based on the incident.

He said a better choice would be to step up education efforts to teach students to recognize when they've had to much to drink, to recognize the warning signs when their friends have had too much to drink and to encourage students to stop their friends from drinking too much.

University police currently are interviewing Fish's friends in order to put together a timeline of where he may have been drinking Saturday night, Williamson said.

As of Sunday night, the police department had conducted at least eight interviews, and Fish was not believed to have been downtown or at a fraternity-sanctioned function Saturday evening, he said.

UGA police, along with a Clarke County Sheriff's deputy, served a search warrant at a residence in the 500 block of Riverhill Drive on Sunday evening in connection with their investigation into Fish's death, Williamson said.

Although he would confirm whether Fish was at the home Saturday night, some UGA students did live at the house, he said.

University officials are working to organize a memorial for Fish with his friends at UGA and his family in Atlanta, Bennett said.

Counseling has been made available to everyone at the university who feels they need it, he added.

Criminal charges against anyone who may have furnished alcohol to Fish are pending the UGA police department's investigation of the incident, Williamson said.